Ironically Blessed
by Banshi13
Summary: Robert Langdon had been ironically blessed over the past few days...even if he was kidnaped, shot at, assaulted, held at gun point, deceived, hunted down all over Europe...


"More tea, Miss Sophie?"

Sophie looked up from her gaze to the kindly butler, who was ready to refill her cup with the steaming, lemon tea that she'd been enjoying for the past hour.

"Yes, please, thank you Nigel," she responded, sitting back in the chair to give Nigel enough room to fill the cup without burning him or herself.

It had been two hours since she and Robert Langdon had parted ways. Two hours since she had said her last words to him. Two hours since she'd last seen his sparkling blue eyes. Two hours since she'd witnessed a grand smile that had not failed to amuse or calm her since they'd met a little over 48 hours ago. Already, she missed him. An adventure that the two of them shared was not something to be forgotten quickly, nor was the bond that the two had acquired because of their plight.

"Are you alright, my dear?"

Sophie immediately smiled, as a grand daughter should do when she heard the voice of her grand mother. She looked over her shoulder at the woman. She was certainly not frail looking. A life with the priory had made certain of that and she carried herself with the grace of a queen. Befitting for her station in life, although no one outside of the Priory, Opus Dei, and other organizations knew about her station. Or the family for that matter. As it should be.

"Oui, Grandmere," she answered, smiling and rising from her chair to give the older woman a kiss on the cheek in greeting.

"Oh please, please my dear, sit down. You have had an adventurous few days. If I were you, I should be sleeping by this point!" The two St. Claire's shared a laugh, one of many that were to come, they were both sure. The remained quiet for a few moments, merely enjoying the others company. Then, suddenly, Marie Chauvel turned in her seat to both her and her grand daughters body guards. "Will you wait outside the room a moment please? My Sophie and I have much to discuss."

Without so much as a hint of protest, the guards simply nodded their heads and stepped outside the room, closing the door softly behind them. Sophie raised her eyebrows in confusion, but Marie waved a disarming hand across the table, a signal not to worry about anything. "A few minutes with my grand daughter is not to much to ask, I trust?"

"No, of course not," Sophie answered, leaning across the table, over her cup of tea.

"You must have many questions, my dear Sophie," Marie stated, her eyes giving light to a hint of sadness and possibly guilt. "Unfortunately, though I may be the oldest living member of our family, I have not much information to give you. What you have discovered over these past few days is much, but it is mostly the whole story. The Priory serves us, protects us from those that would seek to have our blood line destroyed. For over 2000 years has this war lasted; those that wish to see us gone, and those that wish for our line to continue to the end of time."

"I suppose my idea of going back to the police agency is out of the question at this point?" Sophie mused, defeat in her voice. She was happy to have found her family, grateful that she'd gained the answers to the questions which had haunted her life and dreams. But she also realized that her life was never going to be the same. Especially when she had a superior that belonged to the Opus Dei sect. However, said superior didn't know half of the story, which was more than likely a good thing.

"It is not," Marie replied, which surprised Sophie. "Do you believe that those of our line sit inside a bunker for the rest of their lives?" the old woman asked, a touch of a smile as she saw Sophie's look of dismay. "No, my Princess. We live our lives day to day and go about our business as though we were no different than anyone else. And, in a way, we _are_ no different than anyone else. We simply happen to have a very famous ancestor, that is all."

"So, then I may go back to work?" The young woman's eyes were hopeful. Although she answered to a sarcastic, hard-ass cop on most occasions, she still loved her job. Teabing had been correct about a few things, one of them being that codes were a specialty of hers. They always had been.

"We will discuss that in more detail later. You know as well as I do that there is a possibility it might not be safe for you there any longer." Marie shook her head sadly. Such a burden to be a member of this family sometimes. There was once or twice so far that she'd wished she hadn't found her granddaughter. Once the descendants of the Royal Family were discovered, their lives, no matter the attempts to keep them normal, would change forever. Always watched, always guarded. More than three times that Marie Chauvel could remember, she'd had to be moved from location to location for fear that she'd been discovered by those that wished to see the line end with her.

"Oh my Sophie," she placed a hand atop her granddaughters and gave her a warm smile. "Your life is going to change, yes. But we will do everything we possibly can to ensure that you feel as free as humanly possible. And, as safe as humanly possible. You will have body guards, yes. Everywhere you go, those from the Priory will be watching your every movement, and that of anyone around you. As you grow, and marry, and have children, the Priory of Sion will be a constant in your life. But you will learn to live with them, not simply put up with them. Many members of the Priory have become my dearest friends. Those that protect and serve us are loyal to us. They would die for us Sophie."

"Now, enough of this foolish talk of death and service and such," Marie rose from her seat and bid her granddaughter to do the same, which Sophie did. Her grandmother didn't miss a swipe of her hand across her upper cheek to wipe some tears away. After living almost 70 years, the woman didn't miss much.

"Whatever happened to that nice young man that aided you these past few days?"

A genuine and grand smile returned to Sophie's face just at the mention of Roberts name. "He is still in Paris, Grandmother, at his hotel."

"And such a handsome man to aid you as well," Marie continued, as though she hadn't heard Sophie's response. She noticed a rosy hue grow on the young princess's face. "This man...is very special to you?" she asked. Sophie nodded. "How could he not be? He protected me, trusted me, enabled me to figure out the codes that my grandfather had left me...took danger upon himself to keep me safe..." she was reminded of when Leigh Teabing held her at gun point in the church. He was a mad man to be sure, but Robert, although nervous, was able to reason with him somewhat, enough to keep Teabing from shooting her.

"He is a good man. He and I were both being set up to take the blame for Grandfathers murder. Neither one of us could abandon the other." A thought suddenly occured to her.

"Is Robert safe?" she asked her grandmother earnestly, "from Opus Dei...from all those that would hunt us? Or because of me, will they be after him too?"

Marie's finger tapped at the corner of her mouth. The Priory of Sion existed to protect the members of Sangrael...on the other hand, it also existed to protect the Holy Grail, and those who knew of the Holy Grail. If Marie had to make a decision, she would mostly likely put Robert into the protective vices of the Priory. However, although she held a certain amount of clout within the Priory, she didn't have the final say when it came to a possible protectee.

"We will discuss it with the rest of the members during supper tonight," she concluded, to which Sophie only nodded.

She was here all this time...right under my nose, literally.

Robert Langdon rose from his position on top of the Rose Line, standing right above La Pyramid Inversee and putting his hands in his coat pockets. He shook his head in wonder. He and Sophie had been led to Rosalyn to see that the Grail wasn't there anymore. After that, when Robert went back through the poem in his head constantly, he'd finally gotten the double meaning behind the message. He knew she was there, just feet beneath where he stood, and it took everything in him not to try and find a way into the museum to look for a chamber. Perhaps it was better that he didn't see her with his own eyes. That way, if he was ever bothered about the location of the grail again, he could honestly say that he didn't know where she was hidden, and only held suspicions.

"Well...that's that then," he said, looking down through the glass to where he felt the location of the grail to be. It was as though he were paying his respects to a Goddess. In a since, he was. Mary Magdaline herself was lying beneath his feet and a few stories of concrete and glass. It was amazing. The adventures and near death experiences he'd had over the past few days had enabled him to discover one of the greatest treasures history would ever have to offer. In his book, maybe that was worth getting kidnaped, deceived, shot at, and chased all over Europe.

"Robert?"

Eyebrows raised, Robert turned to see Sophie walking slowly towards him. He was surprised to say the least. "Sophie, what are you doing here? I left you at Rosalyn with the Priory..." never the less, he was happy to see her. He embraced her warmly, as she did the same to him, and then stepped back, holding her at arms length. "What are you doing here? How did you even find me?" he asked, then his eyes narrowed. "You're not here alone are you?"

"My, we're full of questions," Sophie laughed gaily. She looked over her shoulder and waved at someone. Robert took a glance behind her and saw a car with two people stationed by it. They were close enough to do their job, but not to close that they could over hear whatever it was Sophie wanted to say to him. Robert also stole a glance over his shoulder and saw someone taking pictures of the Louvre. Instinct told him though that this person was not a tourist.

"Well, that answers the question about being alone," Robert muttered, looking back at the girl in front of him.

"I spoke with my grandmother for a long time after you left," Sophie informed him, "apparently my life is going to change, and then again, not change."

"Well, that's understandable...discovering you're the descendant of such an important person will do that." They both shared a laugh at his sarcasm.

"Robert..." Sophie tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, her smile wavering just slightly, "I wanted to let you know myself. Because of what you've done for me...the way that you stayed with me, did not abandon me-"

"Sophie, I-" Robert tried to interrupt, to tell her that he never would have done that and didn't expect anything in return, but Sophie silenced him, putting a finger to his mouth. "Please...let me finish?" He nodded.

"Those that try to destroy our bloodline...to destroy the truth...they know that you've helped us, and that you might know where the Grail is. Because of that, we want to protect you. As though you were one of the line." Sophie looked up at him. "The decision is yours. If you wish to accept the protection, it will be given readily and willingly. I know that it would make the Priory feel better...and me...but if you wish to deny this, then we will not hold it against you. But...I request that you take the offer..." a coy smile crossed her lips, "Sir Robert."

Langdon looked at the ground, an amused look rising upon his face. "It didn't take you long to fall into your role of 'princess' did it?" Sophie smiled in response. Robert sighed. He didn't want to use the resources that the Priory had on himself. He wanted them to do what they had always done and protect the bloodline...protect Sophie and her Grandmother, and anyone else they might find connected to the St. Claire dynasty.

On the other hand, his beautiful companion had a point. Robert Langdon's face had been painted all over every television screen and newspaper tabloid in the past 48 to 72 hours. The man leading the investigation into Langdon's apparent murder spree was a member of Opus Dei, and it was almost certain that because Robert had had such a close connection to Sophie Neveu and Leigh Teabing the next logical person to go after would be him. Leigh was in jail and Sophie, being who she was would be much more problematic to get to.

"How about this..." Robert rocked back and forth on his toes and heels. "I have to give a couple of lectures for a week in Italy in a month. Why don't you come and join me for that week? I'll have an answer for you by then. In the meantime, we'll come up with some kind of code conversation that we can use in case something does happen." He held a hand out for Sophie to shake. "Deal?"

She hesitated, but only for a few moments. Sophie grasped Roberts hand tightly and shook it. "Alright."

"Great...now, you must be tired, coming to Paris from Rosalyn just to talk to me," Langdon mused, tucking Sophie's hand into his arm and guiding her towards the car she'd arrived in. "No, not really. I tried to take a nap earlier, but there were so many things on my mind..."

"Like why you couldn't walk on water earlier?"

Sophie laughed aloud. "Oui, monsieur, that was the one thing weighing most heavily on my mind."

"Ah, princess's, always worried about the artificial things."

A few more jokes and chuckles lined the way to Sophie's car. When the couple reached the back passenger door, Robert, ever the gentleman, opened it for her. "I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to get in touch with me after I leave Paris."

"I believe that can be managed, yes," Sophie answered, looking to one of the bodyguards for confirmation. "We already have your personal location information, Mr. Langdon. Do not worry; it will stay safely in our hands."

"I suppose we do, yes," Sophie answered after a beat. "We will keep in touch, Robert...until next month that is."

"I'm looking forward to it," Langdon said, helping Sophie into the car, "take care and be safe until then. Don't hesitate to call me if you need m-anything." Robert nearly blushed. Sophie didn't let it go unnoticed. "You would be the first on my list...Robert." She nodded and squeezed his hand, which she still had a hold of.

"I'll see you in a month," Robert returned the squeeze, then gently released her hand and closed the door softly. The sedan slowly crept away from the curb and joined the night traffic of Paris, quickly becoming indistinguishable amongst the other cars. He turned to look back at the Louvre, and noticed that the tourist who had been taking pictures was still there, only now, the man was standing with his hands clasped around the camera in front of him and was looking at Robert. The Professor smiled. Sophie said she'd let him think about it. She never said she wouldn't post a guard for him on her own.

"May I accompany you back to your hotel, Mr. Langdon?" the man asked, walking to Roberts side. Langdon nodded.

"I have a feeling if I didn't, I would never hear the end of it from a certain young lady."

"That you wouldn't, Sir. That you wouldn't."

And Langdon walked, back the way he came, to his hotel, his comrade trailing a few paces behind at a comfortable distance. And all the while, he thought of the week that he'd be able to spend with Sophie and how ironically blessed he'd been over the past few days.

Even though he'd been kidnaped, shot at, hunted down all over Europe, physically assaulted, betrayed...

Fine'

Now, I am one of those people that has only seen the movie (twice) but hasn't read the book. I have no time to read, so, for those of you that have read the book and things don't happen exactly as they do in there, I apologize. I want to go back and see the movie again, I enjoyed it immensely, and I am going to try and take the time to read the book. If I get anymore ideas' from both, you will be the first to know.

I do not own the characters of Robert Langdon, Sophie Neveu, or Marie Chauvel. I am merely borrowing them and using them for entertainment purposes...though I wouldn't mind having Tom Hanks' Robert Langdon for a while .


End file.
